Losing My Cool
Thomas Chatterton Williams gives an account of being drawn in to hip-hop culture and how his father drew him out again. InLosing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-hop Culture he...
View ArticleThe Perfect House
Meghan Daum describes her obsession with real estate and her fantasies of finding the perfect place for the perfect price.In Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House she explores the joys and...
View ArticleCrossing Mandelbaum Gate
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kai Bird discusses growing up in America during three major wars and three turbulent decades in the Middle East.Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age between the Arabs...
View ArticleAn Actor and a Gentleman
Emmy- and Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr.discusses his more than 50 years in the world of entertainment.His book An Actor and a Gentleman describes his experiences working on Broadway with Ruby...
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Singers, Writers, Strippers: The Role Models of John Waters
What do Johnny Mathis, Tennessee Williams, a stripper named Zorro, Manson girl Leslie Van Houten and a couple of amateur porn directors have in common? Renowned filmmaker John Waters counts them all...
View ArticlePatrick McEnroe Tells Tales from the Pro Tennis Trenches
Patrick McEnroe discusses his two decades in tennis—as a player, coach, and ESPN commentator. In Hardcourt Confidential: Tales from Twenty Years in the Pro Tennis Trenches, he gives an honest look at...
View ArticleBetween a Heart and a Rock Place
Pat Benatar, one of the most iconic women in rock music with hits like "Heartbreaker," "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," and "Love Is a Battlefield," discusses her memoir, Between a Heart and a Rock...
View ArticleLove, Food, and Healing in Italy
Paula Butturini talks about the healing powers of sharing of food around the family table. After her husband John was shot and nearly killed by sniper fire while reporting on an uprising in Romania,...
View ArticleFoxy Pam Grier
Pam Grier, best known for her roles as Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, Coffy, and Jackie Brown, talks about her life and career. In her memoir Foxy: My Life in Three Acts, she discusses her relationships...
View ArticleTalking to Girls About Duran Duran
Music journalist Rob Sheffield discusses coming of age in the 1980s, the years of MTV and John Hughes movies, the era of big dreams and bigger shoulder pads. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One...
View ArticleSearching for a New Kidney
Daniel Asa Rose discusses the lengths he and his cousin Larry Feldman went to in order to get a kidney transplant. In Larry’s Kidney, Rose tells the story of helping his black-sheep cousin, who he...
View ArticleLay the Favorite
Beth Raymer tells how she wound up working for one of the biggest professional sports gamblers in Las Vegas. Lay the Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling is an account of her years in the high-stakes,...
View ArticleSteven Adler’s Appetite for Destruction
Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler shares his story of spinning out of control, enduring twenty-eight ODs, three suicide attempts, two heart attacks, jail stints, and a debilitating stroke. In...
View ArticleRosanne Cash: Composed
Rosanne Cash talks about growing up as the child of country legend Johnny Cash, and of her relationships with her mother and her famous stepmother: June Carter Cash. Her memoir Composed is her account...
View ArticleComing of Age as the Son of Two Shrinks
Micah Toub describes growing up with parents who were both Jungian therapists. His memoir, Growing Up Jung: Coming of Age as the Son of Two Shrinks, is a personal history and a survey of Jungian...
View ArticleSearching for a New Kidney
Daniel Asa Rose discusses the lengths he and his cousin Larry Feldman went to in order to get a kidney transplant. In Larry’s Kidney, Rose tells the story of helping his black-sheep cousin, who he...
View ArticleDon Maynard
Pro Football Hall of Famer Don Maynard talks about his time playing with the New York Jets. You Can't Catch Sunshine tells the story of his transformation from laid-back Texan to the toast of New York,...
View ArticleBaby, We Were Meant for Each Other
Scott Simon, host of NPR’s Weekend Edition, tells the story of how he and his wife found true love with two tiny strangers from the other side of the world. In Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In...
View ArticleJames Ellroy on The Hilliker Curse
Legendary crime writer James Ellroy talks about his mother’s death and his obsessive search for “atonement in women.” The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women is about guilt and the power of...
View ArticleMichelle Norris on The Grace of Silence
Michelle Norris, cohost of NPR’s All Things Considered, discusses “the hidden conversation” on race that’s unfolding in America. In her new book The Grace of Silence, she unearthed and confronted...
View ArticleMy Nuclear Family
Christopher Brownfield describes his early life in the Navy and how he, a submariner, ended up in Iraq. In My Nuclear Family: Coming of Age in America’s Twenty-first Century Military, he writes about...
View ArticleRosanne Cash: Composed
Rosanne Cash talks about growing up as the child of country legend Johnny Cash, and of her relationships with her mother and her famous stepmother: June Carter Cash. Her memoir Composed is her account...
View ArticleAntonia Fraser Remembers Harold Pinter
Prize-winning biographer Antonia Fraser discusses her life with playwright Harold Pinter, one of the literary world's most celebrated marriages. Her memoir Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter is a...
View ArticleBush's Book
James Gordon Meek, correspondent for the New York Daily News Washington bureau, and Anne Kornblut, national politics reporter for The Washington Post, discuss President Bush's new memoir, Decision Points.
View ArticleSomething to Prove
Today, Dr. Yvonne Thornton is the first African-American woman to be board certified in the obstetrical sub-specialty of maternal-fetal medicine. But getting to this point wasn't easy. Her latest book,...
View ArticleShirley MacLaine Is Over All That
Academy Award-winning actress Shirley MacLaine tells us which things she is over dealing with in life, in love, at home, and in the larger world, and which things she will never get over, no matter how...
View ArticleNew Collection of Essays Detail the 'Secret Love Lives' of American-Muslim...
Be it about wearing the veil or their general place in society, discussion in the West about Muslim women — especially those conducted by non-Muslims — tend to portray them as silent, oppressed, and...
View ArticleInspiration Strikes After Tragedy: Alfred Kazin on His New Yorker Trilogy
Starting Out in the Thirties (1965), the second installment of Kazin's New Yorker Trilogy, had just been published when he gave this brief talk on the genesis of his artistic motivation at a 1965 Books...
View ArticleWinter Journal
Author Paul Auster talks about his memoir Winter Journal and his work set in New York City.
View ArticleMadeleine Albright on Writing and World Politics
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright talks about diplomatic transitions and her memoir, now in paperback, Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948.
View ArticleMaya Angelou: Her Two Moms
Maya Angelou, poet, writer, activist, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and now, Mom & Me & Mom (Random House, 2013), tells the story of her relationship with her mother and her...
View ArticleThe High Cost of Health Care; Family Stories; Jeffrey Sachs on JFK
New York Times reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal explains why colonoscopies have gotten more expensive, despite their becoming more commonplace, and how that’s driven up healthcare costs. Alysia Abbott...
View ArticleRichard Dawkins and the Making of a Scientist
Evolutionary biologist and famous atheist Richard Dawkins discusses his childhood, his intellectual development, and the story of how he came to write The Selfish Gene, considered by many to be one of...
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Seeking her kitchen’s comforts, food writer Ruth Reichl rediscovers the awe...
Watch VideoJUDY WOODRUFF: We have all heard about the solace eating comfort food can bring. Well, now a well-known food writer gives her take on the healing powers of cooking.Jeffrey Brown recently...
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To Richard Ford, writing a memoir is to utter what must not be erased
Watch Video | Listen to the AudioThe post To Richard Ford, writing a memoir is to utter what must not be erased appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
View ArticleA Summer Reading Guide: Isaac Mizrahi, 'Gingerbread', 'American Spy', Andrew...
Isaac Mizrahi on I.M.: A Memoir. Helen Oyeyemi on her mystical novel Gingerbread. Lauren Wilkinson on her historical thriller, American Spy. Andrew Rannells on his new memoir, Too Much is Not Enough: A...
View ArticleMoby on Living Large and Falling Hard
Moby had already put out four studio albums when Play was released in 1999. He was solidly into his 30s, playing gigs in record stores and thinking about a career-change. But Play, against all...
View Article'Unfollow,' Susan Rice, Pop-Up Magazine
Megan Phelps Roper joins us to discuss her new book, Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church.A new installment from the new WQXR program, The Open Ears Project.New York...
View ArticleA Day of Memoirs By Musicians
[REBROADCAST FROM SEPTEMBER 27, 2019] Patti Smith joins us to discuss her new book, Year of the Monkey. [REBROADCAST FROM AUGUST 1, 2019] Ben Folds joins us to discuss his new book, A Dream About...
View ArticleIn Memoriam: Patricia Bosworth
Alec and Patti Bosworth became friends serving together on the board of the Actors Studio. When Bosworth died of complications from COVID-19, it wasn't just a loss to the literary and theatrical...
View ArticleA Memoir Exploring Beauty and Disability
Pulitzer Prize finalist Chloe Cooper Jones was born with sacral agenesis, a rare congenital condition which has affected both her experience of the world and the way people treat and consider her. In...
View ArticleTaking Care of You in 2022: Job Red Flags, Chloe Cooper Jones's Memoir 'Easy...
A recent Fast Company article shares "10 signs you shouldn't take the job." As a part of our 'Taking Care of You in 2022' series, Rob Barnett, headhunter and author of Next Job, Best Job: A...
View ArticleJennifer Grey on her Life and Career
Actor Jennifer Grey became a household name for her role as Baby in the now-classic film "Dirty Dancing." But her fame did not stop the widespread criticism of her appearance, leading to a plastic...
View ArticleJennifer Grey's Memoir, Listening Party: The Linda Lindas' 'Growing Up,' A...
Actor Jennifer Grey became a household name for her role as Baby in the now-classic film "Dirty Dancing." But her fame did not stop the widespread criticism of her appearance, leading to a plastic...
View ArticleProducer Picks: 'Easy Beauty' Investigates How the World Still Views Disability
[REBROADCAST FROM APRIL 12, 2022] Pulitzer Prize finalist Chloe Cooper Jones was born with sacral agenesis, a rare congenital condition which has affected both her experience of the world and the way...
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